Improvement in key-fasteners



W. A. PHILLIP-S KEY-FASTENERQ Patented Aug. 1, 1876.

N PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. PHILLIPS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN KEV-FASTENERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. EQ'SDAWE. dated August 1, 1876; application tiled iilarch 14, 1876.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. PHILLIPS, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Shields for Locks, of which the following is a specification My invention relates to a new and improved "device for securing the key in the look by view of my improved shield. Fig. 2 is a perspective view with the shield open. Fig. 3 is a View showing the pin and spring.

A is the plate of the lock, through which the key 0 is inserted. E is the curved slot in the shield B, which swings on a pivot in the usual manner, so that when the shield is shut over the plate the shank of the key, which is made flat, fits into the slot E. The under side of the shield B is hollowed out, so that a flat spring, 0, may be attached to the under side of the shield, and have room to work between the plate and shield, so that the pin D may be drawn back out of the socket a. Through the spring end of this spring is a pin, D, having a knob on the outside of the shield, by which the spring 0 and pin D are operated. When the shield is brought over the plate A this pin 1) engages in a socket, to, by which means the shield is held firmly in its place. When the door is locked the shield B is pressed down over the plate A, and the slot being so out as to receive the flat shank of the key, the latter is firmly held, so that it cannot be turned from the outside, and at the same time the pin D enters the socket a, in which it is held by means of the spring 0, and the shield cannot be moved till the pin is released from the socket. The key is thus absolutely secured in the lock, which cannot be picked from the outsidefandwhen the door is unlocked the key is secured, so that it cannot be shaken out and lost.

I am aware that a slotted shield has been used before; but

What I claim as new and of my invention 1s- The combination of the shield B, having a slot, 0, with the spring 0 and pin D, fitting into a socket, a, substantially as described.

WILLIAM A. PHILLIPS.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM P. FOWLER, A. K. GARLAND. 

